Three hundred leaders gathered for the first Global Leadership Summit to be held in Lithuania on Friday and Saturday, October 15-16 at LCC International University. Leaders came from a large variety of churches, service organizations and businesses in Lithuania.

The Global Leadership Summit is prepared by Willow Creek Association in the USA in cooperation with partners around the world, translating the summit into many languages. „City Church“ partnered with LCC in Klaipeda to bring the summit to Lithuania.

Pastor Saulius Karosas had the idea of this kind of conference a few years back. As he talked with the leaders in both the spiritual and business realm he understood the urgent need, as often leaders here have a great sense of loneliness, often the schedules are overwhelming and inspiration is rarely found. Nonetheless the task of the leader at hand is great and it touches the lives of many people.

In Lithuania there aren’t many authorities which people want to follow, that is why this conference is a great tool to fill the gap. During the conference, leaders sat with their teams, made some necessary decisions, talked about changes and planned for the future.

According to Saulius Karosas: „the best fruit is not only to see good lectures or get excellent information, but also to see hearts that are on fire, experiences that change you, and to see repentance. It was amazing to see how the hearts of some of the business people were touched as they started to think about what they can do with the influence they have and how they can help the those in need“

Speakers for this summit represented three styles of teaching. Some were inspirational, some were focused on social justice themes, and some addressed leadership skills. Participants commented that one of the most powerful speakers, Tim Keller, a Presbyterian pastor from New York, gave them so much to think about that they needed to hear it again. There were some that after listening to this speech and others repented and decided to ask for forgiveness for old arguments.

The live facilitation by Saul Karosas, pastor of City Church and the excellent worship provided by the Pakutavėnai worship team, along with the high quality technology of the DVD format made for a wonderful environment for the participants who sat in small groups around tables in MC. This environment made it easy to discuss what they had just heard in each lecture during the processing time allotted at the end of each session. It also helped to have over 100 volunteers attending to every detail down to refilling the water pitchers on the tables.

The event was facilitated in Lithuanian and due to the DVD format, excellent translation and voice over dubbing gave an unprecedented opportunity to hear world class speakers in Lithuanian. English and Russian speakers also participated through translation. Most of the conference teachings were also available on DVD for purchase at the conference. Almost all the DVD’s that were available were sold.

At the end of the conference pastor Saulius Karosas gladly said: „that the conference went beyond all expectations.“ Willow Creek Association representative for Eastern Region Ulf Osterlund evaluated the conference as a great success and well done. The conference ratings were more than excellent in all areas. The conference was ranked 4 or 5 out of 5 on the participant evaluation form. Many already bought tickets for next years’ conference.

The date for Global Leadership Summit 2011 is set for November 11-12, 2011 at LCC International University. With the overwhelmingly positive response to this year’s event, an even larger group is anticipated for the next year.

Each year pastor Saulius Karosas goes on fund raising trip to the states. For a month in the late autumn he travels overseas to see our supporters and friends from different churches. This year there was great question whether our church will have enough finances to pay for this important trip. Nonetheless we all prayed and the Lord answered this need with abundance. Saulius’ brother decided to pay for the trip and to travel with him to the states.

The next surprise that came was the sudden decision by one of the elders, Garret Gilliland to join in this journey. We were having our Tuesday meeting when our administrative coordinator, Valdemaras Bajoras mentioned that somebody had made an interesting donation. He discovered a sum of money in an envelope that had written on it, “should go for Garret trip or for the renovations of Mana.” All the team was quite surprised because as far we knew Garret was not planning to go anywhere, but quickly the decision for him to join the trip.

In the middle of the week Saulius Karosas, Artūras Karosas, and Garret Gilliland left the Lithuanian soil and flew to the other side of the ocean. Saulius and his brother will stay in the states till October 23rd, while Garrett till 17th. During this time many meetings have been planned with almost no days for rest. During this time they will meet leaders from different churches such as: Saddleback, Christ Community, Quail Lakes Baptist Church, and etc. They will also visit: Business Men’s Fellowship, Leadership Prayer Breakfast committee, Spice, and Christian Business Men’s Committee.

During this time the prayer team and disciples evening group will be praying for their safe and successful journey.

Three hundred leaders gathered for the first Global Leadership Summit to be held in Lithuania on Friday and Saturday, October 15-16 at LCC International University. Leaders came from a large variety of churches, service organizations and businesses in Lithuania.

The Global Leadership Summit is prepared by Willow Creek Association in the USA in cooperation with partners around the world, translating the summit into many languages. „City Church“ partnered with LCC in Klaipeda to bring the summit to Lithuania.

Pastor Saulius Karosas brought the idea of this kind of conference few years back. As he talked with the leaders in both spiritual and busines realm he understood the urgent need, as often leaders here has great sense of loneliness, often the schedules are overwelming and the inspiration is rear to find. Nontheless the task of the leader at hand is great and it touches the lives of many people.

In Lithuania there aren’t many authorities which people want to follow, that is way this conference is a great tool to fill the needed gap. Some leaders during the conference sat with their teams and made some of the necessary decisions, talked about changes and planed for the future.

According Saulius Karosas: „the best fruit is that not olny to see good lecture or get exelent information, but also to see hearts that are on fire, expereicnes that changes one, repentance. It was amazing to see how the hearts of some of the busines people were touched as they started to think what they can do with the influance they have and in which way they can help the ones in need“

Speakers for this summit represented three styles of teaching. Some were inspirational, some were focused on social justice themes, and some addressed leadership skills. Participants commented that one of the most powerful speakers, Tim Keller, a Presbyterian pastor from New York, gave them so much to think about that they needed to hear it again. There were some that after listening to this speech and others repented and decided to ask for forgivnes for old arguments.

The balanced use of live facilitation done by Saulius Karosas, pastor of „City Church“, and music band from Pakūtuvėnai together with high quality technology made the DVD format of the conference feel warm. Over hundred volunteers helped during the conference. Participants sat in small groups around tables in Michealson Centras, which allowed them to discuss the content in the processing time allotted at the end of each session.

The event was facilitated in Lithuanian and due to the DVD format, excellent translation and voice over dubbing gave an unprecedented opportunity to hear world class speakers in Lithuania. English and Russian speakers also participated through translation. Most of the conference teachings were also available on DVD for purchase at the conference. Almost all DVD’s that were available for sale were bought.

At the end of the conference pastor Saulius Karosas gladly said: „that the conference went beyond all expectations.“ Willow Creek Association representative for Eastern Region Ulf Osterlund evaluated the conference as great sucess and done well. the The conference ratings were more than excelent in all areas the conference were ranked 4 or 5 out of 5. Participants gladly bought tickets for the upcoming conference.

The date for Global Leadership Summit 2011 is set for November 11-12, 2011 at LCC International University. With the overwhelmingly positive response to this year’s event, an even larger group is anticipated for the next year.

I came to Lithuania to live and volunteer in the Mana center for the summer of 2009. Living in that community and sharing life with the Gillilands and my roommate Gita, and also with all the members of the church who filtered in and out through the week, was an amazing experience. Community was strong and I got to be a part of making the church feel like a family, at home in Mana. That included everything from setting up for the church services, greeting the visitors, cleaning and building in the church, and even spending days in the kitchen organizing and cleaning, keeping it usable for such a sizable community. It was also really amazing to be able to help house the volunteers that came through during the summer and helping them feel comfortable in Mana, and also comfortable in the church and the culture of Lithuania itself. One couple came from Alabama for a few weeks to help with the projects in Mana and to bring spiritual growth and development to the people there. That couple, the Gillilands, and I did an intensive study of the minor prophets in the Bible because of the theological knowledge and experience they brought to us. Being able to so deeply study and attempt to understand God and His Word in the Mana kitchen brought even more spiritual vivacity to the center. Overall, Mana is a place where God dwells and through Him, community thrives and flourishes.

Hi! My name is Clay Smith and I live in Stockton California. I had the tremendous pleasure of traveling to Klaipeda with Greg Helland, Ron Bylow, Lindsey Randolph and Bill Hvidt in late September of 2008. While our time in Klaipeda was short, the friendships and sense of connectedness with the people of City Church and MANA was immediate and eternal. Our trip was the first of many that Greg has made to City Church. Hopefully the rest of us will be able to make the trip to Klaipeda many more times ourselves.

For me, the opportunity to see the hand of God at work in City Church and the hope that is being brought to the people of Lithuania was an experience I cherish always. The time we spent “exploring” MANA back in late 2008, hearing about the vision that Saulius and the rest of the leaders at MANA had then touched our hearts. I have given to the work at City Church and have encouraged others here in Stockton and around the globe to do so as well. To be at MANA and stand in what is now your chapel back then and see the changes that only God can make happen through His people who are totally committed to what He can do through them is exciting! The only thing I can say is, “Praise God!” for what He is doing and is yet to do because of you!

I look forward to the time when both myself and my wife can come and see you and help again once more!
May the Lord Bless You and Keep You until we meet again!